Snow White with the Red Hair | Episode 4 | TFP Review
General Hentai: Much better. After last week’s cheap, boring, picayune, melodrama, we have much better small-scale melodrama. The result is easily the best episode since the first, and possibly even better than that. … Ryu is one of those awkward geniuses, who’s surprised when Shirayuki stands up for him, when someone is worried about Ryu’s fascination with poisons and plant toxins. She also is given Zen’s medical history, which hits her hard on reading about all the poisons he’s been taking to build up immunities. The result is a really nice romantic moment between Zen and Shirayuki, and a budding friendship with Ryu.
I’m well aware that this is a shoujo show, with shoujo pacing and shoujo sensibilities. I’m not looking for sword fights or high drama every episode. Last week was just such a stereotypical handling of the “noble protesting prince being friends with a commoner” trope that that particular portion of the show was everything negative I’ve described. This episode, however, was almost a perfect example of the right way to do it. Even the parts that were predictable (the toxic plant being part of the test), were enjoyable and entertaining.
bctaris: Fair–and, indeed, this was a momentous episode, enough to make the last seem at least (to borrow only one of your adjectives) picayune in comparison. This is where it feels like the story–and her character–kicks into gear, and I can see now the roots of what may have made this popular enough to see adaptation.
And what an adaptation–this was also a prime moment for the animation. There were some stunning cuts, more notable than usual, in this one. And not simply the final, wistful closeup of Shirayuki. The emotional center of the episode, where Zen comes to console Shirayuki as she reads his medical history–there’s a set shot there of her (in a very ordinary, largely unlit room) in the far right of screen, where Zen’s arm then pulls her out of the frame entirely. It’s really somewhat remarkable, because it’s such an inefficient use of animation–and you almost never see a scene storyboarded that way. And in a show where classic-styled brightly-lit screen-filling closeups are aplenty, it stand out in very stark contrast all the more.
But it made that scene memorable precisely for that peculiar sense, confounded more by the fact that it may have been the most intimate scene of those two characters yet, and entirely out of shot. (I wouldn’t be surprised if head director Ando was responsible for this episode’s storyboard, but am curious who it was, if not him.)
EmperorBrandon: I actually caught who it was the first time I watched the credits, since it was a recognizable name to me: Shinohara Toshiya
General Hentai: Total Agreement. It was a brilliant scene, and you’re right, you don’t see many scenes storyboarded that way. Heck, too few film makers take full advantage of the width of the screen, especially considering that we’re in widescreen land now, when dealing with individual characters interacting. Here, by having the unbalanced screen, it focuses on the two with greater strength, drawing your eye to them, while still being cognizant of the space surrounding the pair.
Sensuifu: Ditto; I had exactly the same sentiment seeing that window scene play out. Perfect in every sense you brought up. It really does affirm its utility or at least in almost all cases, the lack of. You just don’t see this style done anywhere, or very seldomly, so it was quite the surprise seeing this cut and how well it was presented. The sense that both Zen and Shirayuki’s emotions and affection for one another was a special one, was really defined in this scene alone. Loved it, and loved the entire episode. If the show keeps this up, it’ll quickly become a strong contender for shoujo title of the year.
Buckeye: Yep, I am loving every minute of this show so far and it helps that Shirayuki is always standing up for herself. As for the best shoujo, there aren’t many this year, but it has some tough competition this year against Yona, Kamisama Kiss, and My Love Story. It’s easily better than the other shoujo in UtaPri and Aoharu x Machinegun and the other short format stuffs.
